Mezcal, the 'moonshine of Mexico,' grows in appreciation, availability

Terroir . Wild yeasts. Elevation. Who knew these terms could apply to mezcal as easily as to wine. In fact, "the vocabulary of mezcal is more like the vocabulary of wine than spirits," explains Ron Cooper, the California artist who founded Del Maguey single-village mezcals 20 years ago when the beverage wasn't on anybody's radar.